Well, as some of you may know, I am not much of a camper, but now that I have camped in Honduras, I think that I can camp anywhere. The boys on the ranch camped at the Rio Grande Friday and Saturday and the girls camped Sunday and Monday. As is turns out, the girls definitely got the shaft on that schedule. The boys had to set up all of the tents, but trashed the campsite and clogged all of the toilets. Also, it was terrible when all of the volunteers from the boys side returned on Sunday to share their horrer stories from the trip and we had to pack up and leave for that very same trip several hours later.
Despite all of the things working against us, we had a GREAT time! After arriving at the campsite, we all claimed tents and I shared a tent with 7 of my girls. Because I had to leave a day early on the public bus, I wasn't able to bring much to make myself comfortable in the tent. Everyone else had brought mattresses to sleep on and my tia graciously donated a sleeping bag to cushion the ground. However, this didn't offer much for comfort. After claiming our spots, we all ate dinner and then the tias dragged out a TV and VCR to show a movie to the little girls while the older girls gossiped, flirted with the townie boys and played soccer. Sleeping was a bit of a challenge since there were roosters crowing all throughout the night. (So I now know first hand that the rooster crowing at dawn is simply a myth.) It would have been a challenge anyways since I was basicly sleeping on gravel with no pillow and only a sheet to cover myself. Despite the fact that we were sweating all day in the sun, it was very cool during the night and I had to lend all of my extra blankets to the girls who brought nothing to cover themselves.
After a very rough night of sleep, we woke up with the sun (as everyone typically does while camping, but it is particularly easier for these girls who have to wake up at 5 in the morning every day). The tias cooked a delicious breakfast of eggs, beans and tortillas over the open fire (very impressive). After which, we all put on our bathing suits or something that could act as a bathing suit and headed down to the river. This was the most entertaining part of the trip. I have never seen such creativity when it comes to bathing suit/clothing. According to my tia, bathing suits are simpley not worn alone because the Honduran men (and there are many just hanging around the river to watch) enjoy looking at scantily clad women and love to hoot and hollar. So, as a result, my girls had a large variety of coverage ranging from one who wore her bikini over her bra and underwear (I tried to explain that this probably would bring on a greater reaction and stares, but she didn't buy it.) to others who wore jeans, t-shirts and yes, even shoes. I choose to wear a tankini top with workout shorts, which seemed silly to me since the differance in skin exposure is about 4 in, but when in Honduras do as the Hondurans!
When we arrived at the river there was a heard of cows drinking from and walking through the river. This didn't seem to bother anyone and the young ones ran straight for the water. The cows came and went throughout the day without any problems. We swam in the river, sunned on the rocks and ate a simple lunch. Unfortuantely, I had to leave after lunch to catch the bus back to the ranch so that I could get up early the next morning to head off to Nicaragua. I was surprised at what a great time I was having and very sad to leave. However, I think it was best that I left when it was still a blast and I wasn't feeling too dirty and tired.
